The World After 4th March, 2025 -- Opportunities and Challenges
Deepak Razdan
8 March, 2025
President Donald Trump’s Address to a Joint Session of
the US Congress on 4th March, 2025 transformed the whole world. He had already
made announcements regarding the end of US financial aid and military security
cover for nations across continents. His speech in the Congress made big and powerful
countries deciphering again who their friends or foes were. They found the
world had suddenly changed. It was a New World they were part of now. Like most
countries, India and Indians have to evaluate what challenges and opportunities
the new situation has offered to them. Going by President Trump’s
announcements, certainly, rich Indians can explore the option of migrating to
the US on Gold Card, petroleum engineers can find jobs in the US oil and gas
industry, just as skilled auto sector manpower, power technicians,
semiconductor and shipbuilding work force can look for opportunities in the US job
market.
In his address, President Trump laid before the world the
US agenda in the 21st century. He said “America is back.” Six weeks earlier, he
said, he had proclaimed beneath the dome of the Capitol “the dawn of the Golden
Age of America.” He had returned to the chamber “to report that America’s momentum is back.” He said “Our
spirit is back. Our pride is back. Our confidence is back. And the American
Dream is surging bigger and better than ever before.”
What followed in his speech thereafter was to convince the
world that America had really changed and the world too would be most likely
not the same for many nations.
In some happy declarations, he gave hope that the
Russia-Ukraine conflict could come to close soon. “I’m also working tirelessly
to end the savage conflict in Ukraine. Millions of Ukrainians and Russians have
been needlessly killed or wounded in this horrific and brutal conflict, with no
end in sight.”
Earlier in the day, he said, he had received an important
letter from President Zelenskyy. The President read the letter: ‘Ukraine is
ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting
peace closer. Nobody wants peace more than the Ukrainians. My team and I stand
ready to work under President Trump’s strong leadership to get a peace that
lasts. We do really value how much America has done to help Ukraine maintain
its sovereignty and independence. Regarding the agreement on minerals and
security, Ukraine is ready to sign it at any time that is convenient for you.”
The Ukraine President’s letter showed President Trump’s
efforts were showing effect. He appreciated the letter and said simultaneously,
serious discussions were held with Russia and there were strong signals that
they are ready for peace. President Trump gave hope to the world that prospects
for peace were real and he promised to talk to both sides.
Giving hope to not just Americans, the US President
promised to US citizens “We are going to create the highest quality of life,
build the safest and wealthiest and healthiest and most vital communities
anywhere in the world. We are going to conquer the vast frontiers of science,
and we are going to lead humanity into space and plant the American flag on the
planet Mars, and even far beyond.” This meant that a prosperous America could
be once again generous with aid and help to the needy nations in future.
While the world rejoiced with the prospects of peace, as it
meant that international economy would get a boost, there were worries about
other announcements. The US President shocked the international community with reciprocal
tariffs that his Administration proposed to impose on US trade partners.
He said “other countries have used tariffs against us for
decades, and now it’s our turn to start using them against those other
countries.” He went on “On average, the European Union, China, Brazil, India,
Mexico and Canada. Have you heard of them? And countless other nations charge
us tremendously higher tariffs than we charge them. It’s very unfair. India
charges us auto tariffs higher than 100%. China’s average tariff on our
products is twice what we charge them. And South Korea’s average tariff is four
times higher. Think of that, four times higher. And we give so much help
militarily and in so many other ways to South Korea.”
But that’s what happens, the President said. This is
happening by friend and foe, he said. This system is not fair to the United
States and never was. And so on April 2nd, he said, “reciprocal tariffs kick in
and whatever they tariff us, other countries, we will tariff them. That’s
reciprocal back and forth. Whatever they tax us, we will tax them.”
He warned that if the US trade partners use “non-monetary
tariffs to keep us out of their market, then we will do non-monetary barriers
to keep them out of our market. It’s a lot of that too. They don’t even allow
us in that market. We will take in trillions and trillions of dollars and
create jobs like we have never seen before.”
He said “I did it with China and I did it with others and
the Biden administration couldn’t do anything about it because there was so
much money. They couldn’t do anything about it. We’ve been ripped off for
decades by nearly every country on Earth, and we will not let that happen any
longer. Much has been said over the last three months about Mexico and Canada,
but we have very large deficits with both of them.”
“They are, in effect, receiving subsidies of hundreds of
billions of dollars. We pay subsidies to Canada and to Mexico, have hundreds of
billions of dollars in the United States, will not be doing that any longer.
We’re not going to do it any longer,” he declared.
The world has talked about the subsidies the US governments
have given to US farmers. President Trump said “A new trade policy will also be
great for the American farmer. I love the farmer. We’ll now be selling it to
our home market in the U.S.A., because nobody is going to be able to compete
with you.”
He warned foreign farm produce would be discouraged. “Because
those goods that come in from other countries and companies, they’re really,
really in a bad position in so many different ways. They’re uninspected. They
may be very dirty and disgusting and they come in and they pour in and they
hurt our American farmers,” he said. The tariffs will go on agricultural
product coming into America and our farmers starting on April 2nd. Farmers
exporting their produce to the US would likely face cancellation of their export
orders.
The President said “And I have also imposed a 25% tariff on
foreign aluminium, copper, lumber and steel because if we don’t have, as an
example, steel and lots of other things, we don’t have a military and frankly
we just won’t have a country very long.”
“Tariffs are about making America rich again and making
America great again. And it’s happening. And it will happen rather quickly.
There’ll be a little disturbance, but we’re okay with that,” he said.
The President gave worries on US commitments to meeting Climate
Change challenge. He said “I withdrew from the unfair Paris Climate Accord,
which was costing us trillions of dollars that other countries were not paying.
I withdrew from the corrupt World Health Organization, and I also withdrew from
the anti-American U.N. Human Rights Council.”
Offering opportunities in the US, President Trump unveiled
before the world his invitation to rich foreign nationals to migrate to the US
along with their wealth. The meant the US was not averse to entry of all
foreigners into the American society.
“We have developed in great detail what we are calling the
Gold Card, which goes on sale very, very soon. For $5 million we will allow the
most successful job-creating people from all over the world to buy a path to
U.S. citizenship. It’s like the green card, but better and more sophisticated,”
he said.
His justification was “And these people will have to pay
tax in our country. They won’t have to pay tax from where they came, the money
that they’ve made, you wouldn’t want to do that. But they have to pay tax,
create jobs.”
He said “So while we take out the criminals, killers,
traffickers and child predators who are allowed to enter our country under the
open border policy of these people, the Democrats, the Biden administration,
the open border, insane policies that you’ve allowed to destroy our country, we
will now bring in brilliant, hardworking job-creating people. They’re going to
pay a lot of money, and we’re going to reduce our debt with that money.”
The President’s announcements show industry with
traditional technology would not be disturbed and this meant that skilled
manpower from around the world could find jobs in the US.
“We ended all of Biden’s environmental restrictions that were
making our country far less safe and totally unaffordable. And importantly, we
ended the last administration’s insane electric vehicle mandate, saving our
auto workers and companies from economic destruction,” he said.
Still offering to create a business-friendly environment,
he said “To unshackle our economy, I have directed that for every one new
regulation, 10 old regulations must be eliminated, just like I did in my very
successful first term. And in that first term, we set records on ending
unnecessary rules and regulations like no other president had done before.”
While, the President talked of ending the “the tyranny of
so-called Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policies all across the entire
federal government and indeed the private sector and our military,” he gave
hope of hiring on the basis of skill.
“We believe that whether you are a doctor, an accountant, a
lawyer or an air traffic controller, you should be hired and promoted based on
skill and competence, not race or gender. You should be hired based on merit,”
he said.
Giving hope for jobs in the oil and gas industry, the
president said “Among my very highest priorities is to rescue our economy and
get dramatic and immediate relief to working families. A major focus of our
fight to defeat inflation is rapidly reducing the cost of energy. The previous
administration cut the number of new oil and gas leases by 95%, slowed pipeline
construction to a halt, and closed more than 100 power plants. We are opening
up many of those power plants right now. And frankly, we have never seen
anything like it.”
He disclosed “That’s why, on my first day in office, I
declared a national energy emergency. As you’ve heard me say many times, we
have more liquid gold under our feet than any nation on Earth. And by far, and
now, I fully authorize the most talented team ever assembled to go and get it.
It’s called drill, baby, drill.”
Showing picture of things to come he said “My
administration is also working on a gigantic natural gas pipeline in Alaska,
among the largest in the world, where Japan, South Korea and other nations want
to be our partner with investments of trillions of dollars each. It’s never
been anything like that one. It will be truly spectacular. It’s all set to go.
The permitting has gotten and later this week, I will also take historic action
to dramatically expand production of critical minerals and rare earths here in
the USA.”
Announcing his intention to set the US bureaucratic scene
right, he said “Americans have given us a mandate for bold and profound change.
For nearly 100 years the federal bureaucracy has grown until it has crushed our
freedoms, ballooned our deficits, and held back America’s potential in every
possible way.”
He said “The nation founded by pioneers and risk takers,
now drowns under millions and millions of pages of regulations and debt.
Approvals that should take 10 days to get instead, take 10 years, 15 years, and
even 20 years before you reject it. Meanwhile, we have hundreds of thousands of
federal workers who have not been showing up to work. My administration will
reclaim power from this unaccountable bureaucracy, and we will restore true
democracy to America again. Any federal bureaucrat who resists this change will
be removed from office immediately.”
The President said “And I also want to make interest
payments on car loans tax deductible, but only if the car is made in America.
Oh, and by the way, we’re going to have growth in the auto industry like
nobody’s ever seen. Plants are opening up all over the place. Deals are being
made like never seen.”
For the auto industry, he said, “In addition, as part of
our tax cuts, we want to cut taxes on domestic production and all
manufacturing. And just as we did before, we will provide 100% expensing. It
will be retroactive to January 20th, 2025.”
“Thanks to our America First policies we’re putting into
place, we have had $1.7 trillion of new investment in America in just the past
few weeks,” he said. Indicating how the chips industry was set to witness a boom
in the US, the President said the biggest investment in the sector was on its
way to the US.
To boost the defense industrial base, he said, “we are also
going to resurrect the American shipbuilding industry, including commercial
shipbuilding and military shipbuilding. And for that purpose, I am announcing
tonight that we will create a new office of shipbuilding in the White House and
offer special tax incentives to bring this industry home to America, where it
belongs.” Jobs for skilled manpower in the shipbuilding industry should see a boom!
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